Performance Today®

Listen to in-studio interviews with host Fred Child and exclusive musical performances by violinist Simone Porter.

In 1805, a critic wrote: "The [Eroica] Symphony contains much to admire, but it's difficult to keep up admiration for 45 minutes. If this symphony is not abridged, it will soon fall into disuse." Well, that hasn't happened yet! On Tuesday's Performance Today, we'll hear Beethoven's Eroica Symphony from the Grand Teton Festival.

One of the showcase events at this year's BBC Proms was a performance of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto by Julia Fischer and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic. On Monday's Performance Today, we've got highlights from that very performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Over the span of two centuries, the Bach family produced more than 50 musicians and composers. On this weekend's Performance Today, we have music by Bach -- but not the guy who immediately comes to mind when you hear that name. We'll travel to Denmark to hear an overture by Johann Bernhard Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach's lesser-known second cousin.

Over the span of two centuries, the Bach family produced more than 50 musicians and composers. On Friday's Performance Today, we have music by Bach -- but not the guy who immediately comes to mind when you hear that name. We'll travel to Denmark to hear an overture by Johann Bernhard Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach's lesser-known second cousin.

Mitsuko Uchida loves playing Mozart concertos without a conductor; being conductor-less means that the orchestra players have to listen more carefully, and the resulting collaboration is much closer. On Thursday's Performance Today, we'll hear Uchida collaborating with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Every week on our Piano Puzzler, composer Bruce Adolphe re-writes a familiar tune in the style of a great composer. Then, one of our listeners calls in and tries to guess two things: the tune, and the composer whose style Bruce is mimicking. Play along with our weekly musical game, on Wednesday's Performance Today.

On Tuesday's Performance Today, we're off to sunny Los Angeles to hear Brahms' sunny Symphony No. 2. Plus, we'll jet over to England to hear the London Philharmonic play Beethoven's Overture to Fidelio.

Earlier this month, Yo-Yo Ma and his cello were the only ones onstage at the massive Royal Albert Hall in London. On Monday's Performance Today, we'll hear his passionate performance of the Cello Suite No. 2 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Plus, a sonata by Bach's great-uncle, Heinrich Bach.